Kaputa, Sangala to vote for World Player of Year

FAM has resolved that its technical director John Kaputa and retired Flames captain James Sangala should vote for the 2013 Fifa Ballon d’Or World Player of the Year.

The association’s chief executive officer Suzgo Nyirenda yesterday confirmed that the two will perform the task in the absence of Flames coach and captain following the end of Tom Saintfiet’s tenure in September and the subsequent retirement from football of Sangala, weeks after Joseph Kamwendo was stripped off the armband.

“That is why Fifa says it is important to have a technical director. We also still believe we can use Sangala as he was the last player to wear the armband,” said Nyirenda, adding that FAM executive agreed to talk to Sangala to reconsider his decision.

Voting, which includes for world coach, women coach and women footballer of the year, closes this Friday, according to France Football Magazine which manages the voting process.

The publication’s deputy editorial director Gérard Ejnes on November 7 2013 wrote a representative of sports journalists in each country, each Fifa member, including FAM, asking for a vote each from national team captain and national coach.

“I would like to remind you that the composition of the international jury to which you belong consists of specialist journalists, national team coaches and national team captains, with the votes of the three groups each accounting for 33 percent of the final vote,” Ejnes wrote with a copy to the Sports Writers Association of Malawi.

The author will vote on behalf of the sports reporters. The list of coaches includes Vicente Del Bosque (Spain), Chelsea’s Jose Mourinho and ex-Manchester United’s Sir Alex Ferguson. Players in contention are Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Lionel Messi (Barcelona) and Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich).